Ahead of World Mission Sunday (20 October) Father Anthony Chantry, National Director of Missio UK, has shared his experiences as a missionary when, in line with this year’s theme, he has invited people to the banquet of the Kingdom of God.
This year’s theme for World Mission Sunday is “Go and invite everyone to the banquet” (cf. Matthew 22:9) and Father Chantry described a huge celebration he was a part of in South Africa after the building of a church by a small Catholic community in 2004:
“The day the bishop came to dedicate the church was one of the happiest days of my life, and I think in the lives of that community…
“An army of good ladies worked the whole night to prepare the feast, the biggest banquet I have ever been a part of. By the end of the Mass of Dedication the food was ready, and they came in their hundreds to eat. It seemed as if the Catholic community had doubled in size with many faces I had never seen.
“But, of course, there were no meal tickets, no one checking those who entered the church compound, no guards on duty: it was open to all. And all were fed and on that day, I knew that the Kingdom of God had come one step closer the people.”
He also explained how living in Kenya showed him what true hospitality is:
“I have worked as a Mill Hill Missionary in Kenya and in South Africa. In Kenya I discovered the spiritual dimension of hospitality that in my experience was always generous and open. Visitors are fed and obliged to eat with the family, strangers are welcomed to the table, all share the same bread and the same pots.
“No one is excluded. All eat together. All share the same conversation. Every meal I was privileged to take part in was a banquet, because even in their poverty they offered all they had, their wealth being the welcome expressed and the ability to celebrate the moment.”
Father Chantry said why World Mission Sunday, and missionary work, is so important to the Church:
“World Mission Sunday brings together every Catholic community in the world to celebrate the Mission that Jesus has entrusted to His Church. We come together in our Masses or, where there is no priest, prayer services to celebrate our universal call to be missionary disciples.
“On this day we are reminded that we are a missionary Church, committed to the spread of the Gospel, which is Good News for all, especially those who are living in fear, poverty or oppression.”
Father Chantry added: “By her very nature, the Church is missionary, and the Holy Father dreams of a Church permanently in a state of mission. The heart of the message we witness to will always be the same: the God who revealed his immense love in the crucified and risen Christ.”
To find out more about World Mission Sunday, please visit the CBCEW’s page on the day or go to Missio’s website.
The theme Pope Francis has chosen indicates that our mission is to invite people to the banquet of the Kingdom of God. You’ll find Father Chantry’s special invitation to the banquet in his ‘Go & invite everyone!’ blog here.
